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The multi-talented musician, honored with a Grammy, faced conviction in April 2023 on a total of ten charges, prominently involving conspiracy.
On Thursday, Fugees rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel was handed a 14-year prison sentence by a federal judge. His sentencing was due to his involvement in channeling millions of dollars in illegal foreign contributions to support Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly delivered the sentence, which follows more than a year after Michel was found guilty. The charges against him included conspiracy, hiding material facts, falsifying records, witness tampering, and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.
“As proven at trial, the defendant engaged in an extensive conspiracy to use millions of dollars in foreign funds to engage in illegal back-channel lobbying and make unlawful campaign contributions,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. said after Michel was convicted in April 2023. “Today’s verdict demonstrates that anyone who engages in unlawful foreign-sponsored efforts to influence American officials, our elections, or the criminal justice system will be brought to justice.”
Michel, 53, obtained more than $120 million from Malaysian billionaire Low Taek Jho (aka Jho Low) and then directed that money toward Obama’s campaign via straw donors. He also tried to use his influence halt a 2017 Justice Department investigation into Low. Low was one of the financiers behind Martin Scorsese’s award-winning movie The Wolf of Wall Street.
Michel’s attorney Peter Zeidenberg called the sentence “disproportionate” and said his client plans to appeal, the AP reports.
“Throughout his career Pras has broken barriers,” Michel’s representative Erica Dumas said in a statement to Variety. “This is not the end of his story. He appreciates the outpouring of support as he approaches the next chapter.”
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